Chapter 135 The last straw that broke the camel's back
The next day is the new year.
People always say “new year, new atmosphere”, but for Shan Chong, this is the first time in more than 20 years that he has opened his eyes in the morning and realized that “it is a new day and a new year”.
He was awakened by Wang Xin.
"Come on, get up, and go sign the contract first."
On such a beautiful day as the first day of the Lunar New Year, what he saw when he opened his eyes in the morning was not his soft, sweet girlfriend, but a greasy middle-aged man facing a financial crisis. Shan Chong blinked, then closed his eyes again as if to escape, and turned over to face the wall——
Not really.
Such an unlucky start cannot be considered the first second of the new year.
Not really.
Just after he closed his eyes for three seconds, the quilt was pulled off. He regretted a thousand times why he didn't have the habit of locking the door before going to bed. The man opened his eyes impatiently: "On the first day of the new year, brother, not to mention the printing shops for stamping official seals, even the printing shops for printing contracts are closed."
"There are always more solutions than problems," Wang Xin pulled Shan Chong's sleeve, "Hurry up, get up, what if your mother wakes up and suddenly regrets it... I don't feel safe!"
"You have no sense of security, why do you care about me? That's something I can give you?" The man half-closed his eyes impatiently after being lifted up from the bed. "My sense of security is for my wife."
"Your wife is still asleep, but your coach has insomnia... He didn't sleep well the whole night, really, he was afraid that if he woke up later than your mother, the weather would be bad."
Shan Chong was halfway through a yawn and was still in a bad mood. He paused when he heard the words.
"My mother is not someone who changes her mind easily."
"She could have changed her mind after careful consideration. Who can we control her?" Wang Xin said, "I just think she nodded too casually. There was no earth-shattering ceremony like kowtowing or crying. This coach frowned and realized that things were not that simple..."
"Maybe she just came to her senses."
"What are you thinking about? If your only son ends up dying or getting disabled in a crash at Big Air, you can just have another child?"
“…”
Wang Xin dragged a chair over and sat down next to the bed, looking serious: "Training is not like teaching kids outside. Except on an air cushion or trampoline, who can guarantee that you won't get hurt? Didn't your mother disagree before because she was afraid that you would get hurt? What if she suddenly wants us to sign an agreement to guarantee that you can participate in the Beijing Winter Olympics unharmed? Do you think I should sign it or not?"
He spoke a long and rambling string of words. At first, Shan Chong thought he was being long-winded, but he listened to him patiently and thought a little dazedly: It seems to be true.
He sat up, sent a good morning message on WeChat to his girlfriend who must not have woken up yet, then turned around to wash up.
When I came out, there was already some movement outside.
When I opened the door, I saw that the dining table was already full of people. In front of each person was a bowl of noodles with a fried egg or something on top...
Shan Shan lowered her head and slurped her noodles. Dai Duo tilted his head to look at her. After a while, he raised his hand to tuck the hair behind her ears. His fingertips touched her face. She was stunned for a moment and turned to look at him.
"It fell in."
Dai Duo retracted his hand, picked up his chopsticks expressionlessly, and concentrated on eating his bowl of noodles.
Wang Xin placed his hands on his knees, staring at the bowl of noodles in front of him as if he was staring at a meal of dead heads.
Shan's mother brought out the last bowl of noodles that belonged to Shan Chong and placed it on the table: "What are you two whispering about in the room so early in the morning?"
...mumbling, how should I deal with your ever-changing attitude?
Shan Chong didn't want to be scolded on the first day of the Lunar New Year.
He just said "Ask him" and buried his head in his food.
Wang Xin was too soft-hearted to tell a good lie after hesitating for a long time. After thinking for a while, he said honestly, "Regarding the matter of returning to the team, the procedure must be done quickly... You think, although there is an extra non-point quota, it would not sound good to give it to someone without doing anything, right? So next year, there are many points competitions to participate in, and one of them must be in the World Cup. We are not in China. We have to go through a special channel to apply for a visa during this period. Time is tight and the task is heavy——"
The single mother laughed.
Wang Xin almost bit his tongue. Although he was a middle-aged man who treated himself as the father of the kids in the team, he was still a far cry from being their real parents...
He lowered his head and picked up a noodle.
The single mother sat down and said, "You are afraid that I will regret it."
Shan Chong didn't even raise his head, picked up the bowl and drank a sip of soup, then decisively told his teammate: "He woke me up. I was sleeping soundly, it has nothing to do with me."
Wang Xin shouldered everything alone, sitting there with a dead look in his eyes.
Single mother: “I really regret it.”
Shan Chong looked over the edge of the bowl. His eyes looked a lot like his mother's, with single eyelids and pupils that were a little darker than those of ordinary people. So when there was no particularly gentle emotion in them, they seemed a little frozen.
Like a pool of stagnant water.
The middle-aged woman mixed the noodles herself, and then finished her words slowly: "It seems meaningless to say that I regret it now. I am definitely not very happy about your comeback, but I am not very happy to let you stay at home and wait to cheer for Xiaoduo next year..."
She ate a mouthful of noodles.
"So don't look at me, look at yourself. You are not a child anymore. You have a family and a girlfriend. You are not always alone." She paused and looked at her son. "Be safe and don't make me regret it."
Shan Chong held the bowl and didn't say anything for a long time.
The single mother retracted her gaze and changed her tone to a calm one: "There's no need for me to tell you this. If you fall, your girlfriend will be the first one to not let you go... If you don't believe me, just ask her."
Her tone was quite firm.
Maybe the loud sound of firecrackers outside early in the morning gave Shan Chong unlimited courage. He picked up the phone and really asked Wei Zhi what she would do if he really fell again.
I guess he just woke up.
"Swoosh" brought a sound to life.
The seven or eight seconds of speech didn't sound like anything good.
Shan Chong wanted to put down his phone, but his mother tapped the table with her fingers: "Play it and let me hear if the little girl thinks the same as I do."
Everyone at the table looked over. Mr. Shan sighed and looked at him as if to say, “I can’t save you.” Wang Xin didn’t dare to say anything, and the rest were waiting to see the excitement.
Shan Chong pressed play.
Early in the morning, at the dining table, the little girl's sleepy voice rang out vaguely:
[Are you sick? It's the first day of the new year, and you've just opened your eyes. Don't force me to scold you. ]
…
Even if it is a two-way trip with green lights all the way, the necessary procedures must be followed. Contracts, physical examinations, filing and other processes must not be arranged until after the seventh day of the Lunar New Year.
But Shan Chong doesn't have that much time.
The XGames and the Burton U.S. Open are two international snowboarding events that are absolutely the top of the heap.
Due to the epidemic, many International Ski Federation points-related competitions are subject to geographical restrictions, and athletes cannot participate normally. Therefore, when the Winter Olympics are just around the corner, these competitions that did not give International Ski Federation points in previous years have gradually relaxed their policies and opened up channels.
Shan Chong's visa application has been submitted.
On the eighth day of the first lunar month, the farmers in the vegetable market had not yet set up their stalls to sell vegetables, but the singles player had already followed his coach back to Changbai Mountain.
The training base in Changbai Mountain is closed to the outside world and is only used for training professional players.
Logically, Shan Chong had not yet completed the procedures and was not qualified to train here, but because he was Shan Chong, when people saw him at first, they were a little surprised and a little delighted. They might have wanted to announce this news to the world, but they were also very dignified and endured it -
Apart from a few close friends and apprentices, not many people knew that Shan Chong had returned to the team.
When he arrived at Changbai Mountain, Wang Xin had already given him a full training schedule, work and rest schedule, and dietary taboos according to the pace of a competition athlete.
Don’t eat what you shouldn’t eat.
Don’t use medicines that shouldn’t be used.
Quit smoking and drinking.
The training time on the snow is guaranteed to be six hours every day, with six days of work and one day of rest.
Shan Chong went through the same process two or three years ago, and he didn't feel uncomfortable with it. He just changed the training schedule and eliminated the daily rest time that Wang Xin had squeezed out for him.
We enter the training base at nine o'clock every morning. Except for eating and a short lunch break, we spend the rest of the time on the snow. Then we leave the ski resort with our skis as the sun sets.
Just after the thirteenth day of the Chinese New Year, when Shan Chong and Tiaotai were fighting hard for Doublecork1980°, Wei Zhi also arrived in Changbai Mountain.
Because his girlfriend came, the man who had been regarded as a cold skiing machine in the eyes of the public these days finally came to the restaurant to sit down and have a good meal...
After taking off her snow jacket, the smell of the ointment and bone pain patch almost made her fall over.
Sitting on the chair, she reluctantly opened her arms to hug her boyfriend's waist and perfunctorily pressed her face against his belly——
The abdominal muscles have become much harder.
He looks thinner too.
She turned her face away.
He lowered his head, sensing her disapproval, and then he pressed her head back with his big hand until she gave up from struggling, and muffled in his arms, saying, "There are so many people watching us."
Shan Chong let go of his hand, and she raised her hand and lifted up his quick-drying clothes. She was shocked to see a row of plasters stuck on it.
"You're working too hard," Wei Zhi said, "Wang Xin said that you've been working on Doublecork1980° recently? You can't sleep well if you don't finish it? Didn't you say that you just need to get some decent rankings in those competitions next month?"
Shan Chong sat down next to her.
He swiped the cutlery in his hand on the plate twice, threw her favorite potatoes to her, and took away the celery she hated. At the same time, he said "hmm" without looking up.
Just as Wei Zhi was about to ask him what he meant by "hmm", he heard him say, "I don't know how to write the four characters '微微合'."
Wei Zhi: “…”
The man picked up a potato and put it to her lips: "Open your mouth."
She turned around and took the potatoes away.
He changed the direction of the chopsticks in his hand with satisfaction: "Wang Xin asked you to persuade me?"
"Even though he didn't let me come, it's almost time for me to come. We can't spend New Year's Eve together, but we should spend Lantern Festival together, right?" She hugged his arm, "He asked me to remind you to combine work and rest."
She paused. "I think he's right."
Shan Chong raised his hand and pinched the tip of her nose in a rather conciliatory manner.
Obviously he wasn't prepared to take her words to heart.
…
Wei Zhi rushed to the ski resort as soon as she got off the plane. After having lunch, she went back to the hotel to check in. Shan Chong accompanied her for an hour's nap.
There seems to be Yunnan Baiyao in the snowshoes. How do I wear them?
I could continue walking even after rolling and crawling, but once I took them off and lay down again, getting up was a different matter.
My whole body felt like it was falling apart.
On the first trip in the afternoon, Shan Chong almost failed to flip over the Doublecork 1440°. He barely landed and stood, but he bent over and slid for a long distance and almost fell.
"You're right to press forward, but don't move your hands around. Why are you bending over?"
When the man went on stage again, Wang Xin followed him anxiously, "His butt was sticking up in the air."
Shan Chong bent his waist and pressed down on the fixator, without raising his head: "I took a nap and I was sleepy."
"You mean taking a nap will delay you? Then why don't you just not sleep at night?" Wang Xin mocked him, "Let the team give you a report. It's a matter of extra training at night. You can dance all night with one light on. Just make a plan. I don't think it's a big problem."
"Why do you have to be so gloomy when you talk?"
"I learned it from you and Dai Duo... Ah, Dai Duo also learned it from you, right?"
Shan Chong sneered: "If practicing all night doesn't work, then what is my wife doing here?"
"You even know your wife is here."
As he was talking, Shan Chong was helped out of the starting platform. He stretched his head to look and saw a little girl wearing snowshoes and snowboard standing next to the platform and waving to him. She was not recording the video. She just followed him as he jumped off the platform.
After putting on his goggles, the man's eyes softened. He raised his hand to adjust his goggles, bent his waist and stretched, then set off.
Maybe the feng shui is not very good in the afternoon.
When he stepped out of the stage, he felt that his movements were correct. The first few turns were effortless. But when he reached the last half circle, he felt that he was stuck in mid-air.
It's hard to explain what that card case is.
When he landed, he went down at an angle.
Seeing that he was about to fall flat on the snow, he instinctively kicked his foot in the air and then reached out his hand to support himself on the ground.
He heard a "snap" sound, and the snowboard fell to the ground, splashing snow and dust. His hand was also gently pulled, and there was a slight "click" sound. Accompanied by a sharp pain from his wrist, he slid a long way with one hand holding the ground -
When I stopped, my right wrist started throbbing with pain...
I don't even have the strength to take off the board.
Feeling the waves of burning pain, Shan Chong paused, bent down, picked up the board with his left hand, and lifted it up.
Over there, Wei Zhi braked suddenly with the front edge in front of him, and with a "snap" kick, a high snow wall was splashed up. Shan Chong blinked and for a moment forgot that his wrist was still hurting. He was shocked and thought: When did my girlfriend unlock the skill of splashing snow wall?
Before Shan Chong could praise her, the little girl had already taken off her board and rushed over. She was not wearing snow goggles or face protection, and her face was pale.
She stumbled towards him and screamed, "Shan Chong, damn, what happened to your hand? Did you fall?"
Shan Chong had never heard her say his full name followed by a national curse.
He was stunned by her ferocity, and before he could react, the little girl rushed over like a whirlwind, grabbed his elbow and checked his hand——
As soon as I touched him, I heard him hiss and move away.
She seemed startled.
The whole person trembled, suddenly raised his head and looked at him, his round eyes quickly turned red.
Enduring the pain in his hand, he wanted to touch her hair, but the little girl turned her head away, not daring to touch him, so she took his hand again and held it.
I heard the man's voice in a low voice: "It's okay, I don't feel any pain... How did you know I broke my hand?"
"I heard you. It doesn't hurt." She said deep in her throat, "Hospital."
I can't say a word more.
The sound of the snowboard cutting through the snow and the wind on the platform were both quite loud. How she heard the sound of his body landing, she didn't know...
I knew my legs were weak at that moment.
I don't know where he fell.
Until I saw him stand up and change his hand to pick up the board.
Her mind went blank.
…
On the way to the hospital, Wei Zhi didn't say a word and just sat next to Shan Chong.
Wang Xin was talking a lot while driving, and he kept scolding Shan Chong, "I told you, but your mother didn't listen," "Whether to tell your mother or not, you tell me," "I don't dare, so tell me yourself," "The contract hasn't even been completed yet, I'm afraid she'll tear it up and take you home, you bastard"...
He kept cursing all the way, never repeating himself.
Wei Zhi also wanted to ask Shan Chong whether he was planning to trick her or it was the wrong calendar for her to go out today, why was he fine when she didn't come, but his hand became useless when she stepped under the stage?
Enter the hospital, go to the familiar emergency room, register, pay, and take X-rays.
Lao Yan had a bone fracture and was hospitalized and put in a cast.
Fortunately, it didn't stop.
Wang Xin sighed and muttered, "What am I worrying about? It's unlucky to discuss the issue of whether to fall or not on the first day of the new year." All he could think about was how to kowtow to Dan Chong's mother and ask her to give him another chance.
Shan Chong sat on the stretcher and lowered his head to call home.
——Why are you sitting?
When he first entered the hospital, the nurse asked him to lie down. The man was about to do so, but when he looked up, he saw the little girl standing half an arm's length away, looking distraught...
He hesitated for three seconds and never lay down again.
He said briefly on the phone that he was shaking his hands, and without waiting for a response from the other end, he hung up the phone. He waved to the little girl squatting at his feet, pressed her shoulder with his left hand, and kissed her nose: "Don't be afraid, I'm fine."
What pro park skater doesn’t have an orthopedic sponsor?
It was not a low probability that he would be admitted to the hospital.
Weizhi had prepared herself mentally for a long time, but when it really came, her head was buzzing and she couldn't speak. The first thing she wanted to say was "Your mom is right, you're just a skiing enthusiast." She endured it again and again...
She didn't even dare to think that if she had been the one guarding outside the operating room when he fell, would she have jumped directly out of the window?
She admitted that her mental quality was very poor.
She raised her hand and slapped the man's chest, and finally uttered in a tearful voice, "Can't you be more careful?" After that, she hugged his waist and snuggled into his arms, not caring about the unpleasant smell of medicine on him, and held him tightly.
Shan Chong patted her back, he also had a headache -
My brain really hurts more than my hand now.
Just now on the phone, after he said, "I broke my hand, I'm in the hospital, it's not a big deal," there was silence on the other end of the phone for at least five seconds... He didn't know if there was a sixth second, because in the sixth second he found an excuse to hang up the phone.
So, it’s so weird, these days whatever you fear will come true.
On the first day of the Lunar New Year, Wang Xin's worries came true.
He hadn't even completed the process of rejoining the team when he got into trouble again. This time, he didn't know what his family would think...
It's like a cracked, already fragile glass falling to the ground again.
Disintegration is inevitable...
No one knows whether this is the last straw that breaks the camel's back.